Imaging devices are frequently used in many aspects of business, industry and academic endeavors. An imaging device is a device that has at least one imaging capability, such as printing, faxing, copying, scanning, publishing to the World Wide Web, filing, format conversion, etc. The term “imaging,” as used herein, should be interpreted broadly to include any process for producing a copy of a document onto paper, a computer screen, a digital whiteboard, an electronic image, other media surfaces, or the like.
Printers are one kind of imaging device. Printers are used with computers to print various kinds of items including letters, documents, pictures, etc. Many different kinds of printers are commercially available. Ink jet printers and laser printers are fairly common among computer users. Ink jet printers propel droplets of ink directly onto the paper. Laser printers use a laser beam to print.
Some imaging devices can generate scanned image data. For example, some imaging devices include scanners which can scan a document to provide scanned image data. It is also possible that an imaging device may be able to read scanned image data from a storage device, extract scanned image data from a facsimile transmission, or compose scanned image data from a variety of imaging operations. There may also be other ways in which an imaging device may be provided with or otherwise obtain scanned image data. Other commonly used imaging devices include copiers, fax machines, multi-function peripheral (MFP) devices, etc.
Benefits may be realized by improved systems and methods related to imaging devices and imaging-related technology.